Sword Art Online: Shattered Blade (the untold story)
by River Vanisher
Summary: "What is broken cannot be reforged. The lives that lost cannot be revived. The sword in my hand, will shartter and disappear from this world. And so will my life. Like a shooting star, that shine brightly and disappear into the horizon". Read the untold story of the unmentioned progressers, as their struggle to survive in this game of death, Sword Art Online.(fits with canon)
1. Chapter 1: Overture for a dream

Author's note:

_Hello everyone._

_First of all, thank you for stopping by to check on this little piece of work. Truth to be told, I only write this for fun. The idea came to me after I decided to have a look at the light novel series Sword Art Online. Having been the fan of the Anime itself, I heard that the novels was much more details and overall better than the anime, so without a second thought I gave it a shot without. And boy, I glad I did. The novel completely hooked me in from the beginning to the very end. The compelling storytelling, the development of each and every of the characters, the details being put onto this light novel is just incredible._

_So I went straight on to finish the other volumns and Material Editon that I could found on the internet. Only then did the idea of writing a fiction about the world of Sword Art Online occurred to me. I didn't waste anytime and started my research almost immediately, gathering any additional information about Aincrad that Reiki-sensei didn't mention in the books, before coming up with a story of my own based on the existing foundation._

_Yeah, as said on the introduction, this story is heavily OC focus. But please note that canons still plays an important role in this story and will make an appearance from time to time (without ruining the actual event of the novels). So please don't consider this as a 'regular fanfiction', but rather an 'untold story' of the same universe._

_Just to be clear, this story will follow the novel rather than the anime. So if you happen to have read the light novels series (including Progressive and Material Edition), you may actually pay more appreciation on the details that I've put into this fic. But if you have only watched the anime, there is nothing stopping you from enjoying this piece of work. _

_I wanted it to be one hundred percent accurate to the source material, so during the writing process, I had to regard the tiniest of detail that most people have forgotten and/or never pay attention to after finishing the novels. Having been writing for 3 years, this is my first try on writing a fanfiction, so during the process, I have to kept reminding myself not to wander too far off of the main story line. It's hard work, but I really enjoyed doing it._

_Again, thanking for clicking on the title of my story on the Archive. Without further ado, here's the first chapter. ENJOY!_

_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own Sword Art Online._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 1: Overture for a dream<strong>

With both my elbow sitting on my knee, I rested my chin on my opening hands, trying to recall a particular incident that happened to me not too long ago. An incident which gave off the exact identical uneasiness I was experiencing at that moment. Something that resembled a group of people (about forty or so), sitting around the fountain plaza located in Tolbana, the closest town to the First Floor Dungeon for an "Intimate gathering".

Yeah, I remember now. That was the time when I attend to a course of some Future Oriented Consultant against my will. More than 50 people slightly older than my age gathered at the amphitheatre, armed with pens and paper instead of sword and light armors like we were at the moment. At the end of the lecture, I walked out of the lecture room without understanding a slightest bit what the consultant had been trying to inject into my brain. Judging by the look on other's faces, I bet most of the people walked out that day didn't have a clue, either.

I could merely guess why my parents forced me into that course. They worried I would became one of those people who went study aboard (which is a big deal) without a specific goal in mind and ended up being unemployed. Of course, who wouldn't worry about their children, especially when they were going aboard all by themselves. Not to mention, I was only a third year secondary school student when I decided that I'm going to finish my studying in Japan. The reason was… well… It's kind of complicated so I don't expect you to understand right away…

Only when started middle-school, through all the boring lessons and trouble some exams, did I realized something, something that I'm still frightened about myself till this very moment, something that soon created a inner demon that feast on me from the inside out, forced me to isolated myself from everybody else…

When other students had to work their socks off preparing for any exams, I aced every single one without having to break a sweat. I don't understand the reason behind my unnaturally high result, but as far as I am able to recall, I've never cheat on any tests that I've taken up until now, EVER.

There are more to it on why I used to be so scared of social contacts, till the point that I decided go overseas to start a new life (even though I was only 15 at the time). What I'm about to tell you is the reason why my middle school years were the three worst years of my life.

With my scores being consistently high, I was, no doubt, a favorite student of every teachers, a role-model for every students. My name was always on top of the list of students to be applause in front of the school.

Were my parents proud of me?

Yes.

Were my teachers pleased by my scores?

Of course they did.

Was I happy with myself?

I was.

I was a very happy middle-schooler, who didn't have to struggle through everyday at school, trying to make a stand. Who got all the attention that every student on this planet would ever dream of having at such an age. But, no dream lasts forever. As I soon woke up to realize the ugly truth behind that fake happiness I never actually had.

Behind every applause, behind every pat in the back, behind all those friendly smiles and claps of congratulation, laid menacing glares and whispers. Both came from the envious nature of the human kind.

As if they wanted to eat me alive…

At that point, it felt like my heart had stopped. All my energy suddenly vanished, being consumed by my fears in just a matter of seconds. An uncomfortable feeling suddenly arose inside my stomach as I lost control over my limbs. My legs was shivering so hard that I couldn't stand up straight…

All I wanted to do was to run away and hide. Hide in some place that no one would ever find me again. Hide so that I would never have to faces those glares, starring into the deepest part of my conscience, ever again.

But that's only part of the story…

I still remember it clearly.

The day everything started

November 6th, 2022.

17:30 – 18:30, Aincrad Standard time. Kayaba Akihiko, the master mind behind all this madness successfully trapped 10000 people inside the game of Sword Art Online.

I could still hear his low, emotionless voice echoing through my mind

"Players! I welcome you all to my world!

My name is Kayaba Akihiko. Right now, I am the only person who can control this world!

I think that most of you have discovered the fact that the Log Out button had disappeared from the Main Menu. This is not a bug. It is all part of «Sword Art Online» System.

Until you get to the top of this castle, you cannot log out on your own free will.

Also the destruction or dismantling of the Nerve Gear from the outside is strictly forbidden. If these these things are attempted… The signal sensor in your Nerve Gear will emit an electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brain and stopping all of your basic function.

Regretfully, 213 players had already exited the game… and the real world. Forever"

Two-hundred and thirteen.

At that point, the horrifying truth crashed down onto us. 213 people had died. Kayaba wasn't kidding. We are 'officially' trapped, with no chance of getting help from the outside. 10000 people being trapped in a virtual world, where they would die if their health bar reduced to zero… Ten thousand people, being held captive without handcuffs or metal chain of any kind. But with just a "harmless" piece of high-tech gaming gear that could be used as their "personal executioner". This was not, by all mean, a game any longer. It was no longer a "Virtual Reality", but had become our "Reality".

Hand-clapping sounds followed by a loud clear voice pulled me away from my thoughts.

"O—K! Now then, it's five minutes late, but let's start! Everyone, a bit more to the front…there, come three steps closer!"

Leaning my back against the hard rock surface, I turned my attention toward the source of the voice. A tall figure covered in shiny metallic armor immediately caught my attention. The swordsman, to my amaze, jumped to the edge of the fountain that was located at the center of the plaza, without a running-start while equipping with such heavy armor.

Rustles and murmurs can be heard through the air. As my «Straining» skill wasn't that high (cause there were no point in leveling up that skill this early. So I wasn't gonna spend my precious Skill Points on that anytime soon), there was no way I could make what they were whispering to each other. But… taking the current situation into consideration, I could confidently say that we were wondering about the same thing. That how on earth could that swordsman standing on the edge of the fountain over there look so… flawless?

And that hair of his… was a blue color… I'd heard that in other MMOs, the items that allow you to dye your hair was purchasable at very costly price. Such items could also be found as super rare mobs drops. I don't know if there any being sold in shops at this super early states of the game (the first floor has not been cleared). But if there were… I doubted anyone would be foolish enough to invest in something as baffling as a hair-dyeing item just to get a good first impression.

Don't get me wrong. I'm perfectly aware the importance of a first impression, especially when you are hosting a meeting with the tops player who are risking their lives at the front line trying to clear the game. But to get through all that trouble to buy or maybe to find a super rare monster drop… Instead you could just spend your time for leveling up and money for better equipment. I sure couldn't fully understand the host's motives, but whatever.

"Today, thank you for heeding my summons! Some people here know me, but I will again introduce myself! I am «Diavel», and my class in my heart is «Knight»!"

There goes that majestic voice again, follow up by whistles and rounds of applause.

Raising my left eyebrow slightly, I put my thoughts into words subconsciously

"I thought there're no «classes» whatsoever in this game."

"That's correct. There aren't."

In reply to my inquiries was a high-pitched, almost childlike voice coming from the hooded figure which was sitting next to me, but still keep a rather respectful distant between the person and myself.

"As you have known, In this game, each player have a number of skill slots depends on their level. So you can freely… how do I put this… etou— equip?... no… set up your own set of skills and train them the way you want. There are no «classes» existed in SAO so people just called themselves according to their skills or whatever they pleased."

"I see."

I nodded slightly after the hooded figure tried to find suitable words to explain the basic mechanics of the Death Game. Judging by the voice, which was high in pitch and small physical appearance, any would have guessed that this is another one of the 'super rare' «Female Players». But guess what? This isn't the first time I got the chance to encounter with this mysterious hooded «Female Player». In fact, we have known each other since the day it all begun. November 6th. The day the 'Mad Computer Scientist' Kayaba Akihiko successfully trapped 10000 Players in this beautiful but deadly world of Sword Art Online, Aincrad.

Knowing each other for almost a month, I shouldn't be surprised that this person sitting next to me was actually a «Male Player». Yep…

This boy had a rather... small build. His girlish and fragile looking body fits amazingly well with his hish-pitched voice. Judging by his appearance, I measured him to be about 13 to 14 years old. He was equipped with a small leather chest place beneath his Ivory hooded jacket. Strapped to his waist was a sheathed One-Handed Curve Sword which name I never learnt.

Because he was wearing a hooded-jacket, so one could only barely make out his facial appearance. But having encountering the boy countless time in the past one month, I had memorized of his appearance in detailed. His oval face was as feminized as possible with burgundy eyes, seemingly larger than any other men. Added to his 'bi-shounen' appearance was a small mole locate on the outer bottom corner of his right eye. His straight brown hair hanging to the length of his ears was a red color…

I'd asked him about his hair before. And it seemed that his hair wasn't dyed by any rare or expensive items of any kind. Which could only meant one thing, that was his actual hair color. I'd never asked into detailed on how come his hair was red, because there is an unwritten law among the SAO players. To never asked or talked about matters from the real world. But I didn't need to go as far as digging into his private zone to confirm that the boy was, by no mean, a foreigner. He didn't seem to be the 'rebel who enjoys looking like a gangster by dying his hair' kind of person either… So I could only guess that he is a half Japanese and half «insert a nationality here». Or maybe he was a quarter Japanese, a quarter this, a quarter that… I would never know.

Talk about foreigners. There were a considerably small number of foreigners getting trapped in SAO, even smaller than the number of Female players. Mainly because the game was only released in Japan and 10000 wasn't a very large number of available copies. I'd only remembered encountering one through the past one month, and that was only because he was so goddamn huge. If my memory served correctly, he must be at least 180cm tall, with dark skin and bald head.

For me, I'd never bothered about being a foreigner either. Not only in SAO, but also in the real world. Mainly, I thought it was because I'm 15% Japanese. So even though I didn't look 100% Japanese like, my appearance alone rarely bothered me. Despite the fact I wasn't born and raised in my grandmother's (who is Japanese) home country, I've been taught to speak Japanese ever since I was a kid. So I didn't have any trouble in communicating when I first set foot on the 'Land of the Rising Sun'.

Of course, having not grew up in Japan had it own set back. My Grandmother was born in Tokyo, so the only kind of Japanese I have been taught was the dialect of the Kanto region. I remembered going to Fukushima on a field trip with my class, one of the local greeted me with a bow "Oban desu."

I was literally stunned for a few second.

"Etou… Etou." was the only thing I that came out of my mouth as I pressed my fingers together and my eyes wanders elsewhere, trying to understand what on Earth does 'Oban desu' supposed to mean.

The old man, who seemed to have notice my strange behavior, leaned closer to me and asked in a small soothing voice "Wakarimasu ka?[2]". which I quickly reply with a big smile spread across my face "Iie… Zenzen Wakarimasen![3]" My classmates, who were standing right behind me burst out in laughter. While all I can do was smile sheepishly with my face turned completely a red color.

Later that day, I asked one of my friend what exactly does "Oban desu" mean. Turned out, that was how people in Yamagata Prefecture said "Komban wa.[4]"

That was one of the most embarrassing, yet memorable moment in my life. Which proved that dialect is one of the biggest problems for foreigners along with idioms and slang.

"Now then, as for the reason why I gathered you top players who are active at the front lines like this, I don't think I need to say it, but…"

Diavel continued his speech with his attractive voice and pointed toward the First Floor Dungeon - a huge tower beyond the townscape.

"…Today, our party found the stairs leading to the top-most floor of that tower. In other words, tomorrow, or at the latest the day after tomorrow, we will reach it: the first floor's…Boss Room!"

Noises started coming from groups of players around the plaza. It's been one month since this Death Game begun, people started loosing their fate, believing that the game would never be cleared and they would never be able to return to the real world. But finally, we had made some progress.

"One month. Coming this far took one month…but even so, we have to set an example. We have to beat the boss, reach the second floor, and show everyone still waiting at the Starting City that it is definitely possible to clear this death game. That is the duty of us top players here right now! Isn't that right, everyone!"

The rustling noises were replaced by cheers and claps. I smile faintly as I started thinking about how good of a speaker Diavel was to raised everyone fighting spirits with just only a few lines. Not to mention being able to gather the scattered front line players into this one place at that one moment and connect us all into one. How ever the outcome of the raid might be, this was a small victory for Diavel. The boy sitting next to me doesn't seem to be greatly moved by the spirited speech, but decided gave his own applause to the Knight standing on the fountain with small claps nonetheless.

But the cheers were quickly died down to low voice coming from the crowd.

"Wait a minute, Knight-han[1]."

I turned my attention toward the source of the voice. A short man with spiky hair equipped with a scale armor along with a large one-handed sword on his back. Now came to think of it, it was funny how I was thinking about dialect a few moments ago and I guy came out of nowhere with his Kansai Dialect took away the stage from the host himself, Diavel.

"Before that, there is one thing that I have to say, or otherwise I cannot join you."

The swordsman continued with his deep grating voice.

I sighed lightly out of irritation. If I were gonna raid a boss room, I would definitely not pick him on my party. Simply because I couldn't stand people who enjoy being an ass to everyone or just being rude without realizing it, just imagine working with that kind of people make me want to quit. I wasn't really sure when exactly did I started becoming so sensitive, but if my guess was correct, my horrendous three years in middle-school must be the source of the problem. After being mentally torture for such a long period, no wonder why I became very cautious about people and everything around me.

I secretly admired Diavel for his calm and composure. Being able to keep his cool expression, even though facing him at that moment was a very very rude player.

"What is it that you need to say? Well, whatever it is, opinions are very welcome. But, if you are going to speak, you should tell us your name first."

Giving a loud snort, the spiky hair swordsman made his way up onto the fountain and turned around to face the attentive crown. I slightly shuddered at the thought of being in his place at that moment, cause standing in front this many people brings back up some… unpleasant memories that I had buried under the deepest part of my soul, never dare to dig up a gain.

"I am «Kibaou»."

Still with that gravelly voice, the person introduced himself as he glared through every player sitting around the plaza with his sharp eyes. I mean… he literally GLARED at us, along with that threatening voice of his, which brought the menacing of his existence into a whole new level. Which of course didn't make me feel comfortable, not at the slightest. Even though I was no psychic, I could tell that most people at the plaza at that time had the same impression on this guy as me.

"In this group, there should be about 5 or 10 people that need to apologize."

I didn't know if it was just me or anything coming from this guy's mouth had brought nothing but uneasiness.

"Apologize? To whom?"

Asked Diavel, raising his arms in a questioning manner.

"Ha, isn't it obvious. To the 2000 people who died up until now. Those guys had a monopoly on everything, and so 2000 people died in one month! Isn't that right?!"

Again with that uneasiness. But this time, somehow the discomfort had been raised to a different level. The murmuring that could be heard around the plaza had completely stopped.

Next… Came silence…

That was the "awkward" kind of silence when someone had states something downright stupid or ridiculous that makes you find the need to reply but are unsure what to say next. It was the kind of silence that you could clearly read 'Anxious' writing all over everyone faces. Tension started to fill the surrounding air and I could feel an invisible pressure slowly squeezed down on to everyone around the fountain.

By then… It was certain that Kibaou was talking about "them". No doubt about that

With a stern look on his face, Diavel continued the conversation.

"—Kibaou-san. «Those guys» who you're referring to are…the original beta testers, right?"

"Obviously."

That's what I thought.

Folding my arms, I sighed deeply out of annoyance of having to go through all this kind conversation all over again.

"Those beta testers, on the day this shitty game started, dashed from the Starting City and disappeared. They left behind over 9000 people who didn't know left from right. They monopolized good hunting grounds and profitable quests, got only themselves stronger reservation, and then always feigned ignorance about it afterwards…There should also be some in this group, some sly people hiding their beta status and thinking of joining the Boss Fight. I say we should make them kneel down and spit out all of the gold and items they stockpiled for the sake of this operation, and that they cannot be entrusted with the lives of our party members!"

Kibaou had states the reason behind all the hates toward the Original Tester. Even though I was one of the Players who never had the chance to experience the game when Closed Beta first came out before the official release, I could not care less if someone was a Beta Tester or not.

If not for Kibaou statement, I could still understand why beta testers were regard with significant hatred among the new players. The reason was they all believe that beta testers were a bunch of selfish people, who abandoned the new players. Not only did they refuse to share any vital information, the testers also claimed the best quests and monster spawning spots to advance quickly through the game.

That, I'm telling you, were just a pile of nonsense trash. People were just too blind to be able to realize that the Beta Testers weren't doing anything wrong. They were just trying to survive the game, just like anyone else, nothing more. People were too irresponsible, too selfish to admit that the people who had died, lost their lives on their own account. It was of theirs own carelessness and recklessness that their health-bar got reduced to zero, that was nothing to do with the Beta Testers.

Also, if they had already learnt that the Beta Testers weren't gonna share any information, why were they still trying to be heroes? Why take the risk? Instead, why not just make progresses step by step? Slowly but surely make it till the very top of the floating castle. Even though that would probably take a long time before we could actually finished the game and return to the real world, but it was still better than risking your lives venture into dangerous or unknown destinations to try finish the game quickly and blamed it on the Beta Testers.

I heard that at the end of the beta, people managed to reach the 10th floor. So that meant that there were still 90th floors that even the knowledge of Beta Testers couldn't provide us any lead way. When we reached the 11th floor… who were they gonna blame for the death of the players? Were they gonna stubbornly accused the Testers for not sharing information? No. The Beta Testers would be no different than any of us new players. There wouldn't be any advantages given to the Testers because of the information from the beta. Instead, they would be as clueless as the new players, not knowing what lies ahead of them.

By then, it would be everyone must work together and started advancing slowly, avoid any unnecessary fool-headed course of action, learnt the world around to gather enough information until you find the the right moment to strike. That's our only choice if we were to make it out of this game alive.

The event unfolding before us seemed to have some effect on the boy who was sitting next to me, as well. Though it was not easy to tell since, most of his face had been covered by the hood. But sitting close to him enable me to see the anxiety in his wide-opened eyes, watching the affair on the fountain attentively. And I swear, I saw a small droplet of sweat running down his cheek.

Came to think of it, I was too concentrated on leveling and mapping the dungeon to ever realize that there was a Perspiration mechanism all along. I did aware that the system generated tears through players' eyes through strong internal emotions. I'd seen people cried quite a lot since the beginning of SAO, especially on the first few days of the game where most players were still at a state of shock and depress. But to know that the developer went into so much detail, I'd gotta gave them some credit.

Oh yeah… Why the one next to me was worried, you may ask? The reason was quite obvious. He, along with another 10% of the players, were the main topic of the discussion at the plaza that moment. Beta Testers. The reason why he always showed up with a hooded jacket was probably to not letting his face being recognized. As far as I concerned, he didn't make many friends either. At that point, there were probably no more than 8 names being listed on his friend list, and I don't even know how many people actually knew he was a Beta Testers.

"May I speak?"

A loud, forceful voice resounded through where the meeting was taken place, coming all the way from the very left end of the fountain plaza.

I remembered this voice. The owner of the rich and forceful baritone was no one else but that huge foreigner guy who I was referring to earlier. He was sitting in a spot that's disabled me to see him through the crowd. So I didn't really notice that he was at the meeting all along.

After bowing to the players attending the meeting, the "huge foreigner guy"… no… no… no… That just sounds so racist… Since the guy was actually equipped with a large battle-axe behind his back, so for the sake of humanity, I'm gonna refer to him as the "Battle-axe wielder". Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

So… After bowing to the players attending the meeting, the "Battle-axe wielder" (Now… that sounds a little bit… overly dramatic, but whatever) turned to Kibaou, who looked like he was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the man before him.

"My name is Agil. Kibaou-san, what you mean to say is that many beginners died because original beta testers did not take care of them, and that they should accept that responsibility and apologize along with giving reparations for it, is that correct?"

So, the guy's name was Agil. Thank god he decided to review his name, or I would have to constantly refer to him as anything overly dramatic (or racist, for that matter). I meant, his appearance alone had "DRAMATIC" written all over it.

"Th…That's right."

Kibaou took a step back. Seeing his defensive reaction toward the man in front of him, I couldn't help but giggled a little.

But… It didn't take long for Kibaou to switch back to offensive state. The man shouted at Agil, trying to sounds as menacing as possible.

"If they had not left us behind, 2000 people would not have had to die! Moreover, they were not just any 2000 people, most of them were top-ranked veterans from other MMOs! If those stupid testers had properly shared information, items and money, then there would have been 10 times as many people here right now…no, by now we would have broken through the 2nd or 3rd floor!"

That was not entirely true. I agreed that some Beta Testers are selfish and only care about themselves. But not every single one of them is bad, like the guy sitting next to me. He was the one who guide me through all the basic of the game, and without him telling me what to do when I first logged into the game, I wouldn't had been here at the first place.

Also, lying somewhere in my inventories was the second evidence to further strengthen my point. The «Strategy Guide by Area» book, which can be bought for free at a number of items shops. It covered all the information you needed to know in terms of terrains, monster spawns and items, even quests guide also got included. A simple designed book with a «Rat Mark» on the cover. When I first bought the book, I was relatively shocked that the one distributing these books were the informant, Argo the rat. A person who would sell all kinds of information for moneys wrote a guide book and sold it free of charge. I don't think that I would ever understand her.

And yeah, I was well aware that she was a Beta Testers, to tell the truth. After purchasing the guide book, anyone with a fully functioned brain would have realized that, providing all those information in such a short period of time was only possible for a Beta Testers. Argo the Rat was the first one that came to mind. But, there was a possibility that she bought all those information from a Beta Testers and wrote a book. So, just to be sure, I ended up asking the boy sitting next to me, and he said he remembered dealing with an informant with whiskers on her face once during the Beta. So there was no doubt.

"That's what you say, Kibaou-san. I don't know about the money and items, but I believe that there is in fact information from them."

Agil state the exact same thought that was going through my stopping there, he also brought out the proof for his words for everyone to see. A simple sheepskin-bound book item with a «Rat Mark» designed with round ears and three whiskers on each cheek on the cover.

"This guidebook, you got it too, right? It's freely distributed from the item shops in Horunka and Medai, after all."

"—I got it. What about it?"

"This guide, whenever I reach a new village or town, is always found in the item shop. You must have noticed that too. The information comes too quickly, don't you think?"

"So what if it's too quick!?"

"It means that the ones who provided the information on monsters and map data that appear in this, cannot be anyone other than the original beta testers."

Agil stated with his arms crossed.

Now hang on a minute, since when did that guy learn the mind reading skill? I wanted to learn it, too.

No really. What Agil said was exactly what was going through my mind at that point.

The players went abuzz all at once. Kibaou closed his mouth sharply, and the knight Diavel behind him nodded in an 'I see' way.

Wait… Why does everyone seem so surprised? Don't tell me that… Aside from Agil,… I was the only one to realize that all the information in that book came from a Beta Tester? Just when I thought anyone who had a normal brain would have recognized this… Guess I was actually the one whose brain wasn't normal. For Agil,… I wouldn't actually say that his brain was not normal, but rather… Etou… he was just a little too observant, that's all.

But seriously though, it disappointed me that no one actually recognize that simple detail. Letting out a deep sigh, I wondered if my little companion was on the same page as me. Agil's voice forcefully pulled me away from my thoughts.

"You see, there is information. And even still, many players died. I think the reason for that is because they were veteran MMO players. They measured SAO with the same ruler as other titles, and missed points that they should have noticed. However, now is not the time to hunt down who is responsible for those casualties. Whether we are or aren't responsible, it will influence this meeting, is what I think."

Now that was the answer to my inquiries. It had always bugged me why with all these information being published into a book, the number of casualties still continue to rise at dizzying speed. Only after hearing what Agil had to say did I realize that a vast number of SAO players didn't take the game as serious as it should be. Since they were veteran MMO players, they were too confident in themselves and believe that their experiences and skills accumulated from other games could help them clear SAO as easily as other MMOs.

That was their fatal mistake…

Kibaou was speechless. The guy couldn't do anything but glared at Agil hatefully with his teeth clenched.

Still standing on the fountain's edge behind the two confronting each other silently, Diavel nodded once more as his long hair swayed and was dyed purple from the setting sun.

"Kibaou-san, I can also understand your point. I, too, went into fields without knowing left or right, and finally arrived here after many near deaths. But, as this Agil-san said, isn't it now the time to look forward? Even original beta testers…no, especially original testers, we need their fighting strength for this boss fight. If we removed them, and that resulted in the attack failing, what would be the point?"

Finally, Diavel had decided to interfere. Just when I was about to wonder how long could Kibaou and Agil keep up with their starring contest.

"Everyone, I'm sure you each have your own thoughts and feelings, but right now, I would like for you to cooperate to break through the first floor. If there are people who will not fight alongside original testers under any circumstance, then it is unfortunate, but you are free to leave. For a boss fight, teamwork is more important than anything else."

I had nearly forgotten the main reason why we gathered here, with all that argument resolving around whether we should "hang the Beta Testers" or not. But thanks to Diavel, the quarrel had finally come to an end. I rested both elbows on his knees and hung my head down before letting out another sigh of both relief and depression. This was supposed to be a meeting to discuss on strategy to take down the first floor boss. And yet, we hadn't had the chance to actually discuss on anything, mainly because the topic around the Beta Testers had taken most of our time.

"This supposed to be the «First Floor Boss strategy conference», right?"

I put my irritation into words to break the silence between me and the boy sitting next to me. Also, I would really want to hear his opinion on the meeting so far, he had been really quiet since the beginning, so I guessed he must had paid a great deal of attention on what Diavel, as well as Kibaou and Agil had to say.

What I got in reply was a surprisingly bright smile from beneath the hood.

"You were expecting some real discussion on fighting the boss, weren't you?"

"Well… Obviously… It is called «First Floor Boss strategy conference» for a reason right?"

I raised my eyebrow lightly at the reply of the hooded male. Had he somehow predict that there wouldn't be any discussion on the matter at the first place?

"Have you forgotten? The 20th floor, which is the top floor of the dungeon hasn't been mapped yet. So we haven't even got the location of the boss room, let alone any information about the boss itself…"

The boy turned his gaze back to the fountain and continued.

"There will be eventually another meeting for everyone to work out anti-boss strategies. But that's only happen after we have gotten enough information. When we have finished mapping out the top floor, 2 or 3 scouting battles would be needed before we could actually come up with any strategy. So according to my calculation, it should be about 3 or 4 days from now, before we could get a proper strategy discussion."

I see… Because, even if we worked out anti-boss strategies, we had only just arrived at the top floor of the maze. In a situation where no one had seen the boss's face, things like strategies could not be made. So the reason behind this meeting actually was to gather and raise the morale of the front line players to prepare for the boss fight. But there were still a few unanswered questions.

"They had made it to the 10th floor during the Beta, right? Doesn't that mean Beta Tester like you should have the information about the boss, already?"

Shaking his head lightly, the read haired male's voice suddenly became serious.

"Like Kibaou said, not every Beta Testers are willing to give out information. At the start of the meeting, I was planning to reveal my identity as a Beta Tester and provide information on the boss. But after that Kibaou guy showed up, I felt that revealing myself would be way too dangerous. So I forced myself to stay quiet throughout the entire thing."

I nodded my head in understanding. So that's why he had been oddly quiet, huh? I sat up straight and turned my gaze back to the fountain. Both Kibaou and Agil had returned to their seat, leaving the stage to the host, Diavel.

The meeting ended with forty-odd people giving a grand war cry.

Right after the word "Dismissed" was spoken, I stood up from my seat and stretched my back, which was all sore due to long period of sitting.

After that, the next thing that came to my mind was to find something to eat. It was pretty late already and I my stomach was growling like crazy (or at least that how I felt). Only then did I regret not having a bread or a small snack before the meeting. I turned around and started making my way back into the town. After a few steps, I turned around and shouted to the hooded figure, who was taking the opposite direction.

"Hey! Do you feel like grabbing something to eat…"

The figure stopped in his track. Turning around to face me, the red haired male rubbed his head lightly. The boy came here straight from the dungeon so I doubt he had eaten anything. The poor kid must be starving by now.

"Wouldn't that be any bother to you?"

I smirked lightly and motioned him to follow. As the distant between the fountain and myself increased, I could hear small steps walking right next to me. I subconsciously let a smile present on my face and started thinking about what I would like for dinner. Maybe I should ask what he would like as well. I don't know. At the current state of the game, there were only NPCs restaurant available, and their food was not the most diverse, so being picky was not really an option.

* * *

><p><strong>References<strong>

[1]A different pronunciation of the suffix "-san" that is used in the Kansai dialect of Japanese. Kibaou speaks in this dialect

[2]Do you understand

[3]No. I do not understand at all

[4]Good evening (note that I used Japanese in [2][3][4] to help you understand their conversation a little bit easier)

_There you have it, the first chapter. So what do you guys think? I apologize if this chapter is a little bit slow paced but that's how I intended this story to be. I wanted to get into the daily lives of the people who got trapped inside the death game, so this is somewhat a Slice of Life kind of story. The first few chapters will serve the purpose of introducing a little bit about the characters and their background, so they maybe a drag to read. Bear with me okay?_

_Again, thanking for stopping by. I would really appreciate if you show your support by leaving me lots and lots of Reviews,it'll really give me motivation to keep writing. Tell me what you think about the story, what I need to improve on my writing to make the following chapter more enjoyable. Trust me, I'll do anything to please my reader._

_Arigatou Gozaimashita. __**Jaa ne!**_


	2. Chapter 2: Overture for a dream (Part 2)

_Author's note:_

_Finally, after one month, chapter two is finally out. To tell the truth, I was actually surprised that I was able to finish it in one month, with all the studying that I have to do. But I enjoyed writing it, nevertheless. :D_

_So without further ado, let's get straight to the story. Enjoy._

_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own SAO._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2: Overture for a dream (Part 2)<strong>

He had made a promise…

A promise to himself…

Up until that moment, one month being trapped inside the death game, he couldn't help but wonder.

Why did he decide to open the parcel which was sent from the person whom he hated the most? Why did he not just leave the thing alone and finished his load of homework instead? Why did he allow himself to lie down on the bed, put the helmet-like gear on and said «Link Start»? Why was he even here at the first place? So many unanswered questions constantly ran through his mind.

On November 6th, 2022, Sword Art Online launched the Official Server Service. As one of the 1000 participant in the Beta Test conducted over the summer vacation, he received the additional benefits of being able to pre-order the game before the initial release.

When he first signed up to be one of the beta testers for Sword Art Online, he honestly never had thought that he would be chosen. To tell the truth, his signing up served no purpose but for fun. If he somehow got accepted, he would have something to do over one month of summer vacation. If not, it wouldn't be a big deal or a bother to his life, either.

Of all 100.000 volunteers, only 1000 were lucky enough to be recruited. The odd was 1 out of 100. Not even in his wildest dream, a normal 15 years old secondary-school student would be pick over 100 other people to take part in testing the first VRMMORPG (short for Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayers Online Role Playing) ever made.

However, in that same dream, he would never have imagined, himself, along with ten of thousands of people would be trapped in a Virtual Reality where your life was measured by a health bar. Once your hp reached zero, unlike other MMO, you would never be re-spawned at the nearest town. Instead, your avatar would vanish, bringing your life along with it.

In short. If you die in the game, you'll die for real.

On the day it all begins, after Kayaba's announcement of the Death Game, the first thing that he did was checking the «Chamber of Resurrection», where the player used to re-spawn after dying during the Beta. But the room was no where to be found. Instead, in the middle of the chamber was a large stone tablet, listed the names of all the 10,000 players of SAO. The names of the 218 dead players had been automatically crossed out, with the cause, time, day, and month of death written beside it.

By then, it was certain that there wouldn't be any re-spawning by all means. HP reached zero equal permanent death.

He was collected enough to realize the seriousness of the situation. Rather than sitting in a corner and cried over self pity, he accepted the fact that Sword Art Online was no longer a game. But a Reality. While everybody was still at the state of shock and panic, he quietly moved from stores to stores, stacking up on his gears before heading out to the next town. Disappearing into the horizon.

* * *

><p>He was walking along side the player whom he had known since the first day of the game as they made their way to through the streets. People had disappeared into bars and restaurants, so the path that they took was oddly quiet. Even though he could find a restaurant on the side of the street every now and then, but his companions seems to ignore the obvious and lead him deeper into an alley.<p>

The swordsman sighed lightly out of annoyance. If he had known it would take this much effort just for a meal, he would had declined the offer at the first place. He was planning to have a small bread before going for a late grind or maybe mapping the dungeon out as much as he could. On the other hand, he didn't want to hurt his friend's feelings, so turning down the offer was something that he wouldn't dare taking. For now, the best course of action would probably keep his mouth shut and follow his companion.

After venturing deep into the alley, they stopped before a ran-down restaurant. No… 'restaurant' wasn't an appropriate phrase to describe the place. It looked no different than the shabby food stall that you can find just about anywhere on the back streets of Japan, if not worse. The swordsman glanced at his friend with confusion in his eyes. Of all the places they could pick, why here? Like stated above, they had passed by no less than three better looking restaurant before ending up here. Even though at such an early state of the game, the quality of the food was so bland that it was beyond comprehension. No matter how beautiful the restaurant may look, the tastes of the food weren't significantly different from other places. Honestly, the food made him want to throw up sometimes.

Somehow, he had the feeling that this place offered something worse than that…

Just as he was about to turn around and run for his life, a hand suddenly wrapped around his wrist, pulling him into the 'restaurant of doom'. This is it… This is the moment… after one month… this is how it ends.

Leaving his life at the mercy of his companion, the hand pulling him suddenly stopped dead in its track. As he was wondering what was going on, the hand which wasn't occupied with the task of keeping him from fleeing waved to a certain someone, who was sitting at the very back corner of the food shop.

"Yo… Fancy seeing you here…"

No matter how hard he look, at that point, he couldn't see any other customers aside from him, his friend and the one who was sitting at the corner – who was no stranger to both him and his friend, and probably to the SAO players as a whole.

"How are you doing, Shiro-nee, Hana-chan?"

A nimble-looking player equipped with full-body cloth and leather armor. Beneath her hooded cloak, he could clearly make out curly auburn hair, along with a pair of brown eyes. Patterns of three whiskers were distinctly painted onto each of the cheeks of this female player who waved her hand nimbly with a delicate expression on. No other than the famous «Information Dealer», «Argo the Rat». Who showed up at the meeting earlier that day and disappeared the minute the whole conversation about «Beta Testers» was brought up.

"I told you… not to call me that…"

The swordsman rubbed his head out irritation. A red color started to spread it way across his face as he soon overwhelmed by embarrassment. Typical Argo enjoyed giving nicknames to people. Something people always enjoy doing in everyday life, as in 'real' everyday life, not a virtual one because it was highly unlikely that anyone would use their real name as an in game name. So basically, every single SAO players were living by their nicknames. But the girl in front of them was able to find the joy of distributing nicknames throughout the floating castle, which means she were giving people's "nicknames" nicknames.

In real life, there's no doubt nicknames pay an important role in developing relationship between people. They can sounds really cool or cute while perfectly portrayed the owners' characteristic and straits. But… sometimes… they can be really really humiliating.

Take him for examples. His in game name was Hanairo, which could be use for both genders, though still sounds a little bit feminized. But just removing the 'iro' would turn it into a name exclusively for female. Being referred by a girl's name was embarrassing enough… the «Rat» even put a 'chan' as an honorifics behind it, which only made matter worse. He had told her many times not to address him that, especially in front of people. In that case, there were only his friend, but still he could still sense a high level of embarrassment.

His girlish appearance and fragile-looking body was misleading enough, being called 'Hana-chan' would only made people further confused himself with a «Female Player». But seriously though, his small physical build was seemingly shorter than many boys his age. He wasn't sure if he had some kind of development delay or not, but at the age of 15, his voice still hadn't changed a bit – even though it supposed to break 1 or 2 years before.

The person whom Argo referred to as 'Shiro-nee' giggled lightly before removing the hood (Only then did he recognize that all three of them were wearing hood at that moment). Her long hair, being released from it confinement, flows all the way down till her back. And much like Argo and Hanairo, she only equipped with leather armor under a black jacket, along with tight-fitting trouser and knee-high boots. On her waist, a curved blade was strapped neatly to her belt. Of course, he couldn't forget the hooded cloak that she had been wearing throughout the meeting.

Hanairo didn't need to ask to know exactly the reason behind the hood. Much like him, who didn't want to his face to be memorized when he reveal himself to help with the raid (which never happened). 'Shiro-nee' – whose in-game name was actually Shiro. Didn't want herself to be recognize her well being as an extremely rare kind in the floating castle, a «Female Player». That hair of her proved to be a major obstruction.

He understood that having other people noticed you being 'different' only posed unwanted problems in the future. So Hanairo wouldn't be surprised if his friend going everywhere with a suspicious cloak. Especially with that hair. Hanairo didn't know if the system allowed the player to change their hair style (not color), at this early state of the game. But if Shiro were gonna hide her «Female Player» identity, she better do something about it. Or else, her hair gonna be a big problem.

The girl possess a bewitching beauty, with long, white hair which usually be put back in a long ponytail and pearly black colored eyes. She was short,skinny, with a pale-skinned complexion. Which gave her a perfect doll-like appearance, giving an impression of a fragile and weak girl. But, in contrary to her appearance, Shiro was a strong-willed young woman. During combat, unlike Hanairo expectation toward a «Female Player», she showed incredible courage and determination. Her fierceness when fighting a mob for the first time while still be able to keep herself from taking damage even surprised Hanairo, who was a Beta Tester. Despite her cute looks, the girl was still pretty damn tough, even more so than the vast majority of «Male Player», or so it seems

"We are still doing fine."

Shiro flashed the informant a grin before sitting down on the other end of the table where the «Rat» was sitting. Being the only one left standing, literary, Hanairo couldn't come up with any action besides sitting down with the two girls.

"I saw you at the meeting earlier today." Shiro said with her chin resting on her hand.

"Hee…Hee… You noticed?"

Argo replied with a wide grin spread across her face. To be honest Hanairo couldn't see a reason for Argo to show up at the meeting, knowing that the «Rat» had no intention in joining the raid. She had already done her job with that Strategy Guide book, in his opinion.

"Seriously, though. You should be more careful Argo-san. Having people learns about your identity as one of those guys could be very dangerous. Not to mention the fact that you are one of the most well-known players in Aincrad."

Shiro's warning for Argo followed by a deep sighed from the former. Hanairo didn't know whether 'one of those guys' worked as some kind of sensors, but he was sure Shiro didn't have any hard feelings toward it. He himself avoided talking about Beta Testers as much as he could. Simply because he didn't want people to think about him everytime the words «Beta Testers» came up. And soon enough, the cover that he had tried to build up from the very first day would collapse.

"Nihihi. Worry not Shiro-nee. Everyone think that I'm «An informant who simply bought information from original beta testers no one knew». So I could secretly contribute to the clearing of the game without having to put my name into a dangerous position."

Argo laughed, giving Shiro an thumb up to assure that there nothing to worry about. Which was not possible to believe, taking the «Rat» current situation into account.

"Nonetheless, just be careful. The tension is very high at the moment."

The girl with that overly long hair folded her arms before looking around the small restaurant, as if she was looking for something that supposed to be there.

"By the way… Where's Saori-san?"

"Oh… She'll be back in a minute. Her food stock had just run out. And you know… you cannot cook without any food, right?

"Ehh? Did you just say 'food stock run out'?!"

Hanairo managed to keep his voice down, having almost shouted out of surprise.

In NPC restaurant, which you could find just about everywhere, there was no such thing as stock. The food just magically appeared out of the kitchen to keep the business going on. Seriously, the only thing that an NPC shop was missing was the quality of the food. He didn't really mind about the lack of diversity in the actual menu, since he had never been one of those picky eaters anyway.

But on the official website of SAO, prior to the game release, it had been written that, "unlike NPC's shop, where supplies are unlimited, player's shop, however, will eventually run out of stock if the owner do not purchase additional supplies.". So there was no way that this super ran down restaurant could be the worst NPC's restaurant like he though it was, but rather, the only Player's restaurant that he ever came across.

"Why do you seem so surprise? Or are you trying to say that I couldn't get any customer out of this place, huh, little one?"

A voice from the door which Hanairo had been dragged through earlier snapped him from his thought. The only three players inside the restaurant, excluding the newcomer, all turned their attention toward the sounds of the voice.

Standing at the door with folded arms was a young woman with light brown hair which was tied into pigtails, along with a white clip on the left side of her face, clipping up a small part of her bangs. Her dark brown eyes glared deeply into his eyes, though there weren't any murderous intent to be sense, still managed to send chill down Hanairo's spine.

"…That's not… excuse me… I didn't mean…"

The boy couldn't find anything to say. He was virtually speechless just by being starred down by the woman, who seemed to be the owner of that ran-down restaurant. Judging by the stern look on her face, Hanairo thought he probably had accidentally offended the Player in front of him. Which would not end well for him, it seems. His gaze wandered from its original spot, cause if he kept his eyes locks with the young woman any longer, the fear of being 'eaten alive' would take the last remaining of his sanity away. Hanairo would make a dashed toward the door, across the street, lock himself inside his room and hide in a corner for the next three days.

"Oh stop it Saori-san. You are scarring the little kid."

The informant didn't failed in making his life harder, Hanairo would ran out of the restaurant all the way back to the corner of his room for real, if not for what happened just a moment later. Something that completely caught him off guard.

The stern expression that were presenting all over the owner's face had been completely replaced by a grin, which she quickly covered it up with her hand. Small giggled could be heard from the other side of the room as it escalated into laughter.

"Hahahaha… Oh man, the look on his face… Hahahaha…"

Hanairo didn't understand what was happening, not by the slightest. He turned around to look at his friends, but instead of finding any mean of explanation, the swordsman found both Argo and Shiro were joining the laughter as well. Which only left him as clueless as ever on whatever the hell was happening. Why did the owner's reaction suddenly took a 180 degree turn? What was so funny that everybody was laughing none stop? Questions just keep swimming around inside of his mind that they started hurting his head.

The laughter only stopped after around 1 or 2 minutes. And yet, that amount of time wasn't enough for Hanairo to realize what had happened that make the three «Female Players» so amused.

"…Etou… Shiro-san… Argo…"

"Sorry, sorry… I was just messing around with ya…"

The supposedly owner of the restaurant wiped a single droplet of tear from her eye before extending her hand toward Hanairo.

"I'm Saori. And as you can see, I'm the owner of this little restaurant. Yoroshiku ne.[1]"

The red haired player's glance stopped at the female's face before moving to her hand then back to her face once again. Reluctantly, he took Saori's hand in his own as they share an intimate handshake with each other.

When his hand made contact with her, something unexpected happened. Hanairo could feel a rush of electricity from his joint ran all the way to his spinal cords. Nerve impulses are transferred to areas of high sensory on your hand, defining shape.. ah yes, the shape of the hand. These impulses come from your brain. They tell you whether the person has disgusting scaly, sweaty, dishpan hands-or soft, gentle, coated-with-lotion hands. These nerves can also transfer output allowing you to squeeze the hand of holding harder, scratch their palm with your finger, or perhaps even let go.

Hanairo couldn't move as if he had been petrified by some kind of dark magic, which was a concept that did not in this death game at the first place.

For the first time in one month, he felt alive…

As their palms were connected to each other, though slightly, Hanairo could definitely feel it. The warmth emitted from Saori's soft hand, holding his gently, like the speed of cherry blossom falling through the air. The virtue sensation that the system managed to recreate was no where near the term of perfection, but that was all needed to deeply moved Hanairo. As he could actually feel the existent of another human being, not just an avatar created by lines of meaningless codes. And for just a few moment, he feel as if he was back in the real world, living the life of a normal school boy, not the life of an anonymous swordsman.

Even after letting go, he could still feel Saori's hand there, like they have been connected through the act of shaking hands.

"…Etou… Are you alright there?"

Saori's voice snapped Hanairo from his thoughts. He looked up to see her looking at him with concerning eyes. Which was a complete contrary to that scary look she gave him earlier. A slight blush spread across his face as he quickly broke eye contact with the restaurant's owner. Slightly scratching his head, the swordsman didn't forget to introduce himself.

"…Etou… My name is Hanairo… Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.[2]"

Saori giggled lightly, bringing Hanairo back to the 'what so funny?' question that he had been trying to figured out through out this entire encounter. Though this time around, he could merely guess that it because of his sheepish reaction in front of a girl that Saori found amusing. Just maybe…

"Oh… So you are Hanairo… Shiro had told me a lot about you."

A smile presented itself on the owner's face, her smile as gentle as the palm of her hand. Her youthful visage gave off an impression of a high school girl. And yet, looking deep into her eyes, he could find a more mature and thoughtful side of the young woman in front of him. Giving him a clue that she might be one of those strong heroine who lived independently without having to rely on anybody but herself.

To tell the truth, Hanairo had always shown his respect toward people who live without any help from other people, especially female who may live independently on their own. Looking at Saori, he could find a confident self motivated woman who takes responsibility for her actions and never blame the rest of the world for her mistakes or her downfalls. A woman who pays her own bills, buys her own things, and doesn't feel she needs a man's approval.

"Oi… You two are getting too intimate too quickly..."

The voice from behind his back finally brought him back to the run down restaurant in the alleys of Tolbana. Only then did he remember something, something really important that he had forgotten. After being carried away for too long on the roller coaster of emotions, his minds were too distracted by other things that he forgot the actual reason why he and Shiro came here at the first place, to fill their empty stomachs, which were growling uncontrollably out of hunger.

In this death game, the sensations of hunger and satiety worked by a simple mechanism. Your stomach will empty three times a day at meal times every day. Even though that was just the fake feelings regenerated by the system and your real body weren't actually hungry. The needs for something to fill your stomach with would hinder any action that you attempting to take.

Whenever your real body feels hungry, as your body reserves nutrient will make it up for the missing energy, the hunger would soon disappear after a few hours. But… unlike the real world. In Aincrad, when your stomach was empty three times a day at mealtimes, the hunger would not dissipate until you had eaten some virtual food.

Before Hanairo could say anything, Saori flipped him around and push him down on a chair, leaving him no time to react whatsoever. He turned his head around while still remaining in a sitting position to meet a Saori who was smiling brightly with a knife in her hand. The image reminded him of those Yan-dere characters which usually could be found in most Anime out there. Behind that cheerful smile, was a dark, sinister, psychopathic, murderous intent that only represented itself through the existent of a knife. Hanairo quickly shook that weird thought away. He had been thinking way too much lately… Which is understandable, given that he were trapped inside a virtue world resembled an MMORPG.

"You guys must be hungry… Food will be out in a minute so be patient, okay."

The owner turned her back and head toward the kitchen, not forgetting to threw back a wink at them before disappearing behind the counter. Well, mostly… because they could still see her upper body since the counter wasn't that tall to begin with.

So they were met with a familiar image which was something very near and dear to their hearts. The sight of a chef preparing food for customers from behind the counter, that can be seen in just about every small restaurant throughout Japan. Just looking at the woman behind the counter brought back many nostalgic memory of his once peaceful, serene life of a middle highschooler before SAO. Do the same thing everyday, never try to stand out, never fall for anyone. Nothing will ever happen to him. He prayed that his lives would always be simple that way, never have to worry about anything.

But, on that faithful day, November 6th, 2022. His simple and quiet life that he always loved was flipped completely up side down, never to be the same again.

After being trapped inside the world of Sword Art Online, there was only one goal that he wishes to complete. To clear this god forsaken game, getting everyone out of this virtual world, even if it means sacrificing his own life. To Hanairo, the old peaceful life he one has had come to an end ever since the announcement of the death game at the square that day. So instead of caring for his own survival, he would fight for the sake of the other 10000 living souls, or die trying. So when he looked back, Hanairo could smile happily and be proud of his decision to act instead of crying over self pity, regardless of how dark the outcome might be for him.

Run. Keep running. Even when you are tired, never stop charging forward. Shine brightly then disappeared into the night sky like fireworks at the end of summer.

"Enjoy your meal. I'll better be going now. Don't forget to take care of yourself. Especially you, Hana-chan. It's hard working, being an informant, ya know."

Argo, who had been oddly quiet for the last couple of minutes stood up from her seat and squeeze her way out to the door through the lines of table. Reminding Hanairo of how small of a place this restaurant is, at least compare to other NPC's ones. He was about to ask why wouldn't she be having meal with them, but decided against it after noticing a plate on the table the informant was sitting on earlier.

"…Good grief. You shouldn't push yourself too hard, Argo-san. Try taking some rest."

Saori said to Argo with a stern yet caring voice. On which Hanairo couldn't agree more. It's only one month into the game but he had already seen loads and loads of work over the informant's shoulders. And let's not forget, there were still one hundred floors ahead of them… Just imagine the amount of work made Hanairo shiver.

"Hehehe… Always care about other people. You have a kind heart, Shiro-nee. Jaa… Mata ne."

The «Rat» laughed shamelessly, waving at us for the last time of the day before disappearing behind the sliding door.

That reduced the number of player inside the restaurant at that moment back to number 3. Included two «Female Players» and one «Male Player». Only then did he realize the fact that just a few moments ago, he was sitting with three other «Female Players». As you may have known, «Female Players» was one of the rarest species to be found in this world. Even after a month, he thought almost all of them still stayed in the «Starting City». The chance of meeting up with one is slim enough, but having THREE around you at the same place, at the same time would be an event that only happened once in a life time. Well, for now at least. There was no guarantee that there wouldn't be a couple of female individuals to step up and show the world that they, too, could fight. To give an example, just look at Shiro. So who knows? Maybe there would be a rise in number of «Female Players» at the front line in the near future.

"So tell me. What would you do if I didn't ask you to have dinner together?"

Facing Shiro's sudden question, Hanairo found himself having problems coming up with an answer that was suitable in this situation. He couldn't just straight up telling her that he was planning for an all night grind in the dungeon. He assumed that telling her the truth would just gonna make her worry. And that exactly what he tried to avoid. Making others worry about him.

"Etou… I was planning to have some bread for tonight."

"And after that?"

The female player rested her chin on her elbow, slightly raising her eyebrow in a questioning manner.

"That… Maybe go back to my room to get some sleep."

"Really? Don't you think that it would be a little bit early for that after having only a piece of bread? Are you sure you are not planning on spending the night inside the dungeon like you always do? Hana-chan?"

What is she? Some kind of psychic?

The on going barrages of questions along with Shiro's stern look started to make him hard to breath. The largest quantity of uneasiness was delivered. The swordsman was forced to break eye contact with the female player. Even though he didn't want to, since that just gonna evoke more suspicion out of Shiro.

"D-Don't be silly… I'm not planning to do anything like that. Beside… Tomorrow is gonna be a busy day, so I gotta get some decent rest."

Though he could feel that she hadn't been convinced, the blond hair player turned her gaze away from him toward Saori, who was carrying two plates with both of her hands getting out from behind the counter.

"Well… If that's the case."

Hanairo sighed in relief. If not for Saori perfect timing, wouldn't be able to enjoy his dinner in peace. Even though it seemed that something still bothering Shiro, she had let this one go, at the very least. The restaurant's owner gave both of them a graceful smile before started laying the table with napkins, spoons and forks. Two deep plates were placed before us. Inside was some kind of thick liquid with deep white-ish color. Though hardly visible, there white steam emitting from the surface of the surface of the dish, as if inviting the person sitting before it to have a taste.

"Enjoy your meal."

A huge grin appeared on Saori's face as she pulled a chair over to sit down next to Hanairo.

"Try it and tell me what you think."

The dish itself was much more appealing than he expected. Although it was nowhere near the actual stuff from the real world, still, this was far better than the thing they had at NPCs' restaurants, appearance wise. The only thing that was left for him to find out was if the soup (he thinks) tasted any better than what NPC had to offer.

Saori didn't leave her gaze off of him, as if expecting some kind of reaction from him. To tell the truth he wasn't expecting much out of this thing, regardless of how good it looked. Considering the early state of the game, he doubt that anyone would be foolish enough to concentrate on leveling up her «Cooking Skills» to a level that actually allow her to make food that taste good. Even if you are a chef of a well-known restaurant in the real world, in SAO, no matter how skill of a cook you are, if «Cooking Skills» doesn't met the standard, your food would be just as bland as something made by an eight years old.

Honestly, if Hanairo just straight up tell her the truth, Saori would definitely be disappointed, and she'd end up doubting her own cooking skill. It is obvious to him that cooking is Saori's passion, because why would she even spent so much money to buy a building for her restaurant at such an early state of the game, regardless of how ran down it look. If you were to have any doubt on your own passion, that would changed your view on life for the worse, and your life would be hanged on a thread that was about to snap at any moment.

To put it simply, Hanairo wouldn't want to be too truthful to the owner. Even if the soup tasted like ice cream with fish, he would still try to force them down into his stomach and tell her that it's good. But what if it DID taste good, who knows? Why would Shiro dragged him all the way here if the food wasn't good. Suddenly, his expectation was raised dramatically.

Hanairo took a spoonful of soup, raising it to the level of his mouth. Slightly gulping before taking a deep breath, Here goes nothing, The swordsman squeezed his eyes shut, taking the entire thing into his mouth.

For a second, his mind went completely blank…

After getting back to his senses, Hanairo was greeted with the feel of sweetness that had completely enveloped his mouth. The feeling that he had not been able to experience over the past one month. For the first time since the beginning of the game, a felt completed. As the sensation of fulfillment started spreading from his mouth through out his body, assaulting his every senses. Subconsciously, his hand automatically scoop down another spoonful and take it inside of his mouth, again, again, and again. Before he even know it, the disk of soup was already half empty.

Upon taking back control over his body, the only action that he could come up with besides stuffing the remaining soup down his stomach was glancing over at the cook, who was having a very satisfying grin on her face.

"How did you?... This taste like…"

"It's good, isn't it? Since the system does limit the quality of the food you make base on the level of your «Cooking Skill», so you usually couldn't make anything decent this early into the game."

Saori giggled before continuing.

"That's why I had to add some twists to it."

"Twists…?"

Hanairo raised his left eyebrow in a questioning manner. He couldn't find anyway to get around the system and make food tasted better, no matter how many times you 'twist' it. But, truth to be told, he never actually paid any attention to the food system inside this game, so it was still too early to confirm that the level of «Cooking Skill» decide the quality of the food. There could be others elements involve in this matter such as the the stats of the food you use.

"Yep… She added the cream she received as a reward from the quest «Cows of the Counterattack». I have one of those, too. Though, not many people do it, since it takes some time to clear."

Shiro cleared things out a bit for Hanairo before taking a spoon of soup into her mouth.

"That's right. And this is just one of my secret ingredients. There's still some more tricks up my sleeve that I won't review to you just yet."

Saori posed a cool gesture, swiping the tip of her nose with her thumb before the wide grin appeared on her face once again.

It's no surprise that something like this could slip past him unnoticed. Because, like said above, he never really cared about the food in Sword Art Online at the first place. Now, he regrets that he didn't.

"I can help you do it later if you want."

"…Eh?"

"The quest. I could help you do the quest later if you want to."

Shiro took another spoonful of soup into her mouth, her disk had already half empty as well. Only when sitting like this did he had the chance to actually take a good look at the Female player. Her appearance was no different than a native Japanese, but the color of her hair is what really made her stands out in a crowd. (Another reason for the hood). Since hair dyeing items were extremely hard to come by at this state of the game, and knowing that she would never waste her time and Col on something that was baffling and unnecessary like a dyeing item. There could be only one possibility that it was her actual hair color in the real world.

Biologically, Japanese people could not naturally developed any hair color that is different than black. So her hair color could be from the result of dyeing, which was unlikely, consider how much money it costs to dye someone's hair to such a bright color. Hanairo had known the girl well enough to be perfectly aware of her dislike toward wastefulness.

All in all, there was only one possibility that is her natural hair color. A person with a Japanese facial appearance who possesses white-ish blond hair, there were no doubt that Shiro was a half breed.

In SAO, the chance of coming across a «Female Player» is slim, chance to meet a Foreigner is even slimmer. A half-breed, even lower than that of a Foreigner. But a «Female Player» who is a half-breed, Hanairo was virtually sitting next to the absolute rarest kind to be found in this Giant Floating castle.

So right then, both Shiro and Hanairo were facing the same problem, involving around their hair colors. The dying items won't become common after a few more floors. By then, you would see lots and lots of people with a large variety of hair color. Bur for now, Hanairo and Shiro gonna just have to bear with it.

"Well, sure. But…"

For the last two weeks, his selection for food consist of the cheapest food item in the game, black bread. Back in the real world, he had always fond of bread. Hanairo remembered staying up late in the night to finish the last of his homework while munching on a piece of bread that he bought from a bakery just around the corner earlier that day. In the kitchen of his small apartment house, you can always find a large number of bread. The breads not only served as a snack but also his improvise meal whenever he didn't have the time to cook properly.

Breads are cheap, convenient and the taste is just delicious. Well, in the real world at least. Even inside of SAO, his fondness toward breads had never change. The bread inside adopted every features that he loves, being cheap and very easy to carry around when you spends an entire day grinding inside a dungeon. It would have been the perfect food for anyone if not for the fact that the taste was… disappointing. If he had one of those cream items, the taste of those dry and coarse black breads that can be bought from an NPC baker with the price of 1 Col would be enhanced dramatically.

But at the same time, he wouldn't want to be a bother to Shiro. So instead, maybe he would just ask her the place where he could take the quest and complete it on his own.

Letting out a deep sigh, Hanairo picked up the spoon and started finishing the last of his soup.

* * *

><p>"Thank you. Please come again. And don't forget to tell your friend about this place."<p>

Saori waved goodbye to them, standing at the other side of the open door to Shiro and Hanairo with a bright smile on her face.

"We will. And again, thanks for the meal. Keep up the good work Saori-san"

"Hee Hee. You got it Shiro. And oh, Hana-chan,eat a lot of food if you wanna grow up quickly, you hear? Come by the restaurant sometimes, okay? I'll be waiting."

"…Ha…Ha… Sure…"

"Jaa. Mata ne.[3]"

Saori flashed toward them a grin before closing the door, disappearing from their sight of vision.

* * *

><p>"Have a great evening?"<p>

"Yeah. The food is way better than I expected."

Hanairo smiled as they made their way out of the alley. Truth to be told, he didn't even remember the way out, since Shiro dragged him all the way here all too quickly. Sure enough, your avatar will automatically memorize a location when you set foot onto it, and present it all on a mini-map which can be pulled up from the Main Menu, but he was too lazy for that. So instead, he might just wanna hang onto the girl for a while longer, because it seems like she knew this place like the back of the hand. And it was not like he was in some kind of a hurry, either.

"Honestly, I feel pity for her."

Hanairo let out a small sigh before fixing his gaze onto the night sky. The black world covering in darkness and despair filled with tiny diamond shaped sparkling lights of hope and love... Somehow feel identical to their (as well as another 10000 souls) situation at that moment.

"Why is that?"

"Well… I feel like she is sacrificing too much. Leveling up her «Cooking skill» to satisfy other people's needs, instead of combat skill, and we are only on the first floor. I think she deserved way more than what she is having right now."

"Well, you shouldn't be worry about that. Her restaurant actually has a lot of customers every day, despite its ran down look."

Shiro's reply actually surprised Hanairo. From what he saw, there were absolutely no one enter the restaurant when they were having their meal. And from that, along with the structure of the building, he could guess that despite her talent, Saori didn't attract many customers to her restaurant. But Shiro said otherwise.

"Eh? Really?"

"Yeah, really? There are actually a lot more people during day time. When night falls, people usually avoid walking into dark alley so you shouldn't be surprise to see no one at her place during this time of the day."

So that's how it is.

If she didn't make a lot of money out of selling food, she couldn't have been able to afford a building which was her restaurant at the first place. It's only one month into the game, so to own a small building, even if it's deep inside the alley, would cost a fortune. This alone enough to emphasize how much devotion and loved Saori had sent into her job as a «Cook». Probably the first ever «Player Cook» in the history of Aincrad. Who doesn't put her life on line to fight monster but stays at the back, nourished the hungry players after a full day of grinding and clearing dungeon with the delicious food that she put all her heart and emotions into making. And to make others feel 'Alive', to make them feel like they were having a meal with their friends in a restaurant on the street of Japan, not inside a death game where they would die when their health bars completely depleted...

Both of them remain silent for the rest of the way. Upon returning to the main street of «Tolbana», they shared a few lines of farewell before parting away. Hanairo rubbed his head lightly and started making his way back to his room, it's been one hell of a long day and he really could use some rest. But after a few step, Shiro's voice stopped him on his track.

"Promise me you won't sneak out into the dungeon at night."

"…"

Promise huh? He had made a promise to himself not too long before SAO started. To completely cut off his relationship to that person, the one who sent him a copy of SAO. And well, as you could see. He broke it by opening that parcel containing the game.

"I promise."

Hanairo flashed a smile toward Shiro. The white hair girl smiled back at him before waving him goodbye for the last time of the day.

"Good. Now go get some rest. I'll see you around."

The «Female Player» turned her back and walked away. Her figure slowly faded into to the night before finally disappeared completely from his sight of vision.

Okay… He'll do what she said. A promise is a promise. Even though he had broken the promise he made to himself one month ago, he would try his best not to break the only thing that was keeping him from giving up on his own life, the promises he made to Shiro.

* * *

><p><strong>References<strong>

[1][2]: these two sentences are actually quite hard to translate into English precisely. It's basically what people say when they first meet each other (in which it could means [let's get along]) or when they ask other people to guide or take good care of them.

[3]: Then, later.

_So? What do you guys think? Are there any mistakes that I need to correct? Do I need to pick up the pace? Let me know in the review section below. It helps me out a lot to know what you guys are thinking, and know that there are people out there, supporting to keep me going._

_Just a heads up, I'm facing a major exam at the moment, so I won't be able to release chapter 3 anytime soon. But trust me, I'm going to try my best to finish it as fast as I could, maybe 2 month or so… I don't know._

_Again. Thank you for stopping by. Looking forward to seeing you in the next chapter._

_Arigatou Gozaimashita. __**Jaa ne!**_

_**(PS: Drop a review if you thought the main protagonist and narrator in the first chapter was a male player. JK, that's up to you=)))**_

_**REVIEWS REPLYING SECTION:**_

_** tripplehalo : **__glad you like it. I don't want to spoil anything but the story gonna be much darker and more interesting later on, so hope you will stick with me until then. (^o^)_

_** ShinBP : **__[pm-ed]_


	3. Chapter 3: Overture for a dream (Part 3)

_Author's note:_

_How are you doing everyone? I am back with the new chapter. At first, I was planning to release it on New Year's eve, but in the end, some stuff came up, and I had to go all the way back to my home town and… yeah. I could not write a single word during the holidays. So when I returned, I had to work extra times to make up for the wasted time._

_It was very tiring, but still fun nonetheless. I guess that's just the beauty of being a writer, that you can find pleasure in your work, no matter how hard-working it is._

_This one an extra long chapter for you guys. :* So hope you guys enjoy._

**_Disclaimer: _**_I do not own SAO._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: Overture for a dream (Part 3)<strong>

Eversince coming to Japan, I had adobted the habit of doing my daily routines by a detailed timetable. Cause unlike where I was born, people in Japan seemed to be always on time for just about everything. And of course, who would want to be late on your first day to school, especially when you were from a different country. Doing something that out of the ordinary would result in other people looking at you with discriminative eyes, and moved your self an inch closer to the title of… dare I say it… Gaijin.

Of course, I do not have any other choices, since I did not want to stick out like a sore thumb. My hair color alone was troublesome enough. So scheduling everything before hand was the ultimate solution to adapt to this new living environment. Although I had some problem at first, it did not take me much time to actually get used to this standard Japanese life-style. And who knows when had coming up with a detailed timetable become a habit of mine, even in SAO.

The morning after the meeting was no different than any other day. Rises early, has a large breakfast before heading off to the dungeon. Of course I could not be exactly precise on my timing and do the same thing everyday, but what I always did was trying my best to not wander off too far away from what my daily schedule.

* * *

><p>Sitting on the hard surface of the fountain in the middle of the square located in Tolbana, I let out a deep sigh, taking a moment to rest after a few hours of grinding nonstop at the dungeon. It was already noon, although there was no sky in Sword Art Online (excluding the 100th floor), since Aincrad consists of floors after floors stacking straight upward. Which means when you look up, you can only see the stone bottom of the next floor. Due to the structure of the floating castle, you can only see the sun twice a day, in the morning and in the after noon. But somehow, the entire floor was still fully illuminated by the sun light, and in the evening, you can see stars glittering around the night sky.<p>

It's almost time for me to have my lunch. I do not have the habit of stacking up breads and spend an entire day grinding like a certain someone, but instead, after returning from the monster spawn, I usually find myself an NPC restaurant to nourish my hunger. Not that I enjoyed the taste of the food they offer that much, but at least it's better than those black bread that can be bought from the bakery for only 1 Col. That, until Argo tell me about Saori's. So now, all I have to do was to make my way deeeeeeep into the narrow street of Tolbana to have my lunch. Simple.

To think of it, who gives a damn about following time table, anyway? It's Aincrad, not Japan. It's not like I'm gonna be frown upon for being late to my daily grinding or anything. Strange, since when had I become so lazy. Thinking back, I could not recall a single time did I ever complain about having to study late at night after returning from my part time job. The life of a foreign student is difficult. Even though my relatives still send me money every month, I still prefer to earn my living on my own while still managed to not wandered to far off from my main task, studying.

It was not easy, especially for a girl who had just entered high school, finding a place that accept that kind of CV is like finding needle in a hay stack. But I pulled it off, nonetheless. I was hired by a humble old gentleman to work as a cashier in one of his convenient store with a decent salary. Needless to say, I was the happiest girl in the world. To be able to live independently, it is a big deal for someone who was just a first year high school female student studying aboard.

Of course, taking a part time job means less time for me to do stuff that I enjoy doing. It was really hard at first, but then, as time goes by, somehow I had managed to find enjoyment in my job as a cashier. Something about smiling at customer, saying "Welcome" and "Thank you" had became a part of my daily life.

Just by looking at the NPCs standing behind their shops all around towns brought back "peaceful" memory of the life I once have. The thoughts was like a large dose of moral boost, which gave me motivation and determination to clear the game, releasing everyone, myself included from this game of death. So everybody would be able to return to the life they all know and love.

But before that, we need to complete the task at hand, defeating the «First Floor's Boss». There was not much discussion at the meeting yesterday. Which was understandable, since the boss room had yet to be discovered. No one had laid eyes on the door which leads to the boss, let alone the boss itself. After finding it, a few scouting battle is needed to collect as much information about the boss as possible. Of course, it was not fair to say no one had seen the boss before. The «Beta Test», which took place over the course of summer vacation had seen its players reaching the 10th floor by the end of the beta. Should there be any «Beta Testers» stood up and contribute any thing they've learnt from the Beta, some dangerous scouting battles would be unnecessary. But with the rising tension between new players and «Beta Testers», I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to do such a thing. Besides, there was no guarantee that the info was still the same as in the Beta. Game developers tend to add some changes to the final product to not give any advantages to the Beta tester, for a balance and fun experience for every player.

But this is no ordinary game. This is a game of death, where you actually gonna die if your character's health reached zero. No matter how you look at it, there was no such thing as a 'fun experience', but only lives and deaths. Even if we already have the information regarding the boss, there is a chance that the thing might have something up its sleeve that could turn our lives for the worse.

So it should take a few more days before we could actually discuss anything whatsoever regarding the boss. Taking a deep sighed, my feet moved on its own and without any realization, I found myself standing in the middle of the fountain plaza where the meeting was taken place the day before. It was strange how I was able to walk all the way to this place without realizing, when just a few moments earlier, I was too lazy to get up on my feet. Taking a quick look of the place, there were not many people around the place at that time, which is understandable, since it was somewhere around lunch time. So it most players were probably having their second meal of the day in some NPC restaurants that could be found just about anywhere in this town.

Oh yeah… Saori's place should be quite busy at this time of the day, too.

I thought to myself, before realizing that my hunger had yet to be nourished. Unlike in the real world, where after a particular amount of time, the conserved energy would be brought out, bringing the hunger to a halt. In SAO, your hunger will not subside until you have consumed some virtual food. So I could not skip a meal (which I did all the time back in the real world) even if I wanted to. By then, there were two options for me to take.

Option number one, drag my weary body all the way to Saori's for a decent meal made by a decent cook.

Option number two, make due with anything I could find on the way back to the dungeon.

…

There was an NPC bakery just around the corner.

A 1 Col-black bread should do the trick for now, I think.

* * *

><p>Leaning my back against the hard stone surface, I took a bite out of the bread which I had just bought from a vendor baker just not too far away from the square. Only with a mouthful of bread already inside my mouth did I realize that I forgot something very important. Slightly winced from the discomfort of the bland taste of the bread gave me. I raised my right hand and with a sliding motion, the main menu popped up from mid-air. Opening my equipment storage, I selected the item that I was looking for while trying my best to swallow the content inside my mouth instead of spitting it out.<p>

A small unglazed pot item materialized in my hand. I put the pot on the stone step that I was sitting on before slightly tapping the pot lid with my index finger. A small pop-up menu appeared and without any hesitation, I selected «Use». Then, using the tip of my index finger, which had been covered by a faint purple light, I drew a line across the bitten bread on my other hand.

With a small sound effect, the entire upper surface of the bread had been completely enveloped in a yellowish-white color. Without delay, I immediately took another bite out of the bread.

This time around, the bland and dry taste had been replaced with a sweet and tender sensation, along with a refreshingly yogurt-like sour taste. This is not the first time I had eaten this «Cream bread», but the taste had never fell to impress me. Though this is nothing compared to the stuff at Saori's, but this is definitely way better than an NPC's restaurant. All that was needed was completing a 'not so simple quest', and you can enjoy the fulfillment of eating a 'luxurious' «Cream bread» anytime you want. Well, at least until the cream item which was the quest reward run out.

As I was half-way through the bread, a voice rang out from my right.

"Would you mind if I sit down next to you?"

To the right of where I was sitting stood a tall and slender figure of a «Male Player», who somehow found interest in sitting with a complete stranger, even though there were still plenty of rooms around the plaza. Could it be because I was a «Female Player»? That shook that thought off of my mind immediately, realizing that I was still wearing my hood, so it should not be easy to tell whether I was a boy or a girl.

I shook my head slightly, signaling the person that he may sit next to me while still trying to figure out the reason behind this sudden encounter. Only then did I realize, there was no one else around the fountain plaza at that moment, just me and this «Male Player», who I knew absolutely nothing about. A perfect place for the perfect crime. Since we were not in the real world, there would be no finger print or DNA being left behind at the crime scene. So should there be a full investigation, it is next to impossible to find the person who responsible for the crime.

However, in SAO, there was a system called «Color Cursor» as part of the visual display of a player, NPCs and Monster. Every player started with a green cursor. During the process of the game players that have committed an infraction will have their cursor turned into an orange color. An infraction is initiated typically by the first act of attacking a green player outside the safe zone, as the Area effect in towns negates both the possibility of injuring other players and the possibility of stealing items.

How did I know this, you may ask. Even though I was no «Beta Tester», well… if want to survive in a world which you have no knowledge about, getting information from 'various sources' could be a difference between life and death.

No really. Just by knowing which is the best grinding spot could make a huge difference in terms of efficiency, experience point and mob drops. Allowing you to level up more quickly and obtain more drops at the same time. Knowing which are the best equipment and how to get them is gonna affect your performance during battles by a large margin. That's how I managed to fight my way into the front line through the past month as a «New Player», getting information from others.

Even though, my knowledge was nothing compare to that of a «Beta Tester», I was pretty happy with my current situation right then comparing to other «New Players».

All in all, as I was inside the safe zone at that moment, there should not be anything to worry about. Since this stranger would not be able to do anything to me even if he wanted to. And I doubt that he was dumb enough to not know about this basic MMO mechanic, either.

So what was the actual reason? I gave up on trying to find one after a while. Biting on the half-eaten bread, I took a quick glance at the person who was sitting next to me.

Getting the chance to look at him up close, the first thing that came to my mind was that he was a fine-looking young man with medium-long auburn color hair. His sharp brown eyes gave off an impression of a confident, level-headed young male with burning intensity of a passionate soul. Which reminds me of a certain blue-haired knight-sama. His equipment is as simple as everyone else, at this early state of the game. Which, leaving his attire aside, consists of a leather chest plate and armor on his right shoulder, along with a one-handed straight sword as his weapon of choice. Judging by his choice of light armor, I could guess that that person was following a somewhat offensive oriented build, with heavy damage but low defense.

Just about any MMOs out there allows player to customize and build their characters however they want. Players who like to play aggressively could choose to follow an offensive build, which enable them to bring out a huge amount of damage to their target. But in turns, their basic HP and resistance would be dramatically lower than players who follow a more defensive build and vice versa.

Well, I would not say that he had low defensive stat with those armors. Though he still seemed to be leaning toward offensive, this person stats should be quite balancedly attributed. Say, 70 to 30.

"Beautiful day, isn't it. Looks like Cardinal is on a good mood today."

Since there was no GM in this death game, the only thing that was keeping the castle from crashing down was the system. Namely The «Cardinal System», which was originally developed by Kayaba Akihiko himself to manage all resources, processes, and events within Sword Art Online. The swordsman came up with a joke on this matter as he was interacting on his menu. I could not tell exactly what he was doing, since the menu would not be visible to other players unless the owner pressed a button which allowed them to see the screen. But, I would not have to guess what he was doing, either. Since only a few seconds later, a pot item similar to mine materialized in his palm, which caught me by surprise.

Well. You may think that it was not such a big deal, seeing someone else with that pot of cream. But in truth, the quest that rewarded you the cream item upon completed, is pretty tricky and time consuming. Because I only wandered across it, there was not any heads up information regarding the quest that I possessed, at all. So it was no strange that it took me 7 hours straight to finish it. Seriously, who would waste so much time and effort on a food item? But in the end, no matter how I see it, it was worth it. Even though I rarely had a chance to actually use it ever since I met Saori. But it really came in handy on occasion like this.

But like I've said, not many people did it since it took times to clear. Finding another person with that item was like finding needle in a haystack.

With the exact same action sequence, the swordsman applied a layer of cream on the bread on his hand.

"Ca not believe I'm saying this but this thing is better than most of the stuff at NPCs' restaurants."

The person remarked before taking a bite out of his own bread. Taking a glance at his chewing face, I finally spoke up after remaining silent all that time.

"You couldn't stand the food here, either, could you?"

The swordsman stopped chewing for a slight moment (I think), swallowing the contents down his stomach before nodding lightly.

"Un… the stuffs they served there was so bland, that made me felt like I was eating plain white rice. Which is strange, though…"

"How so?"

I raised my eyebrow beneath the hood at the man sitting next to me. Placing his index finger at his own chin, the swordsman continued.

"It's clear that the system is perfectly capable of recreating the sense of taste for the player in this game. Have you ever tried the drinks at any bars before?"

"I have. Yes."

"And how does it taste like."

"Well. It depends on the drink that you choose. The juices are mostly sweet, while the wine are bitter and…"

I stopped dead in my track, widening my eyes upon realization.

"That's it! The drinks at the bar do have taste while the food does not! That's why it is strange."

"You are correct."

The swordsman gave me a gentle smile, waving the creamed-bread in his right hand before continuing.

"The foods at NPCs' restaurant, eating them felt like as if the sense of taste could not be transferred from your avatar to your mind. But, that is not true. Take this bread, for instant. With the addition of cream, your brain was still able to recognize the taste in your mouth."

I nodded my head slightly in agreement. I took a quick bite out of my bread and spoke up.

"But then again, it could be that the food here was meant to taste bland."

"That is true. Man, I do hope that they serve better food on the second floor."

We shared a small laughter. After that, the swordsman pressed his hands together as if remembering something.

"Ah… Where's my manners. I forgot to introduce. My name is Leon. Or at least that's my in game name. Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu."

The player with the name of Leon extended a hand toward me.

"I'm Shiro. Yoroshiku."

I accepted his handshake offer with the brightest smile that I could mustered.

The situation at that moment was somewhat novel to be, since I did not tend to show any means of friendliness toward people until I get to know them well. But there was something about this swordsman that made it so easy to open up to him. Maybe it was because of his way of starting a conversation, which gave off a sense of comfort and friendliness what makes him so charming and easy to talk to. I don not know.

Even though I had constantly take the initiative in making friends over the last few weeks with the sole purpose of extending my knowledge of this world, I could not fully open myself to most of them until a few days had passed. So me being able to talk to someone so comfortably and confidently without having to hide anything is something you do not see everyday. The only time that this had happened was a few weeks earlier, when I met my very first person on my friend-list, Hanairo.

Why? Well… Hanairo was not the friendliest player you could meet out there. He was so reserved find it difficult to make new friends. But somehow, when I first met him, I could open up to him so easily just like to Leon, even though Hanairo and Leon were a world apart. However, the major difference between the two «Male Players» was actually the reason why I could get intimate with both of them so quickly, but not anybody else.

Leon's confident when approaching a stranger made him really easy to talk to. While in the case of Hanairo, who was very shy, his shyness could result in two ways of reaction received from other players. Some people would find him uncomfortable to talk to and would leave him alone, while some would find the urge to get to know and become good friend with him. For myself, I think my name falls on the latter's side.

"So… You were at the meeting yesterday, weren't you?"

Leon sudden question broke my chain of thoughts, which I reply with a slight nod.

"Yes. So you were there, too huh?"

"Un… And I must say, it's pretty impressive for a «Female Player» to be able to join the frontline. Not to mention taking part in a boss raid."

I chocked lightly after being hit by Leon's words. So he did realize I was a girl. Well, after talking to me, shaking my hand and looking at me up close, it was not that hard to understand.

"It's nothing really. I couldn't have made it this far if not for the help of my friends. Oh yeah, and that little guide Argo made, too."

Leon folded his arms and let out a small laughter.

"The «Strategy Guide by Area» book, was it. Yeah, that thing really helps out a lot if followed correctly. Speaking of which…"

The auburn haired swordsman opened up his menu once again. And after a few moments of interacting, another item materialized in his palm. This time, instead of a cream pot, it was a small pamphlet bounds by sheep skin. I lowered my head to a side, confused.

Reading the confusion in my eyes, Leon continued.

"This pamphlet is called «Argo's Strategy Guide: First Floor Boss edition». I bought it at an NPC shop in the corner of this plaza where we are sitting."

My eyes widened out of surprise after hearing the title. What could he mean by Argo's strategy guide?

"The title pretty speaks for itself, it contains a lot of useful information regarding the first floor boss."

I was virtually stunned for a second. Leon's words did not stop flying around my head until I had fully taken in the current situation. Argo had put her life on the line once again for the sake of the boss raid.

After three weeks and six days, the tension between the «Beta Testers» and the «New Players» had been rising without showing any sign of stopping. Mostly it was the «New Players» accusing the «Beta Testers» of being selfish and leaving the «New Players» to fend for themselves.

Argo's one of the most well-known informant and player in Aincrad, is also a «Beta Tester». Though she was currently keeping this a secret to most people, she was taking the risk of being discovered by publishing these guides. Gulping down my throat, I whispered in a small tone.

"And the price?"

"It's 0 Col."

* * *

><p>She is at it again. That Rat.<p>

I let out a deep sigh to express my irritation, though I doubt anyone out of the forty-odd people at the fountain plaza that evening would have noticed it, except for, maybe the red-haired boy who was sitting next to me.

The scene around the plaza at that moment was somewhat chaotic since everyone had stood up from their seat and went buy themselves the new guide book at the NPC in a corner of the plaza. And of course, the meeting was brought to a temporarily pause.

For me, after that little chit chat with a certain swordsman with the name of Leon, I immediately got one for myself and studied it on spot. Which saved me a lot of time and effort now that I wouldn't have to stand in a queue and wait for my turn to buy this guide book. So all I have to do for the time being is to remain in my seat. Hanairo didn't seem to be surprised by this as he just did the same thing as I was doing, remain in his seat instead of queuing for this latest Strategy Guide book published by Argo. The reason I could figured out that he had already got one of those before the meeting even started.

Oh yeah. The meeting. It seems that even though the first meeting taken place on the day before didn't have much strategic discussion regarding the first floor boss coming out of it. It may have boosted the morale of the clearing group by a large margin. And the 20th floor of the first floor's dungeon had been mapped entirely by the afternoon right before this second meeting was taken place. Which was only about 24 hours after the first meeting was taken place.

When I was fighting inside the dungeon, loud cheers of victory could be heard from not too far away. Later at the meeting, I found out that it was actually the cheers of the players from Diavel's party of six as they discovered the floor's boss's room, which were huge double doors in the inner most depth of the dungeon. Also, they have taken a glimpse at the boss itself, as some reckless fella had boldly opened the Boss Room door.

Still, the information regarding the boss was still very limited at that point, since Diavel's party had only seen the boss, not directly engaged it.

A few scouting battles should be held to gather more info out of the boss beforehand. So the actual raid would not occur any time soon. If not for the existence of a guide book published by the well-known informant «Argo the Rat». Namely «Argo's Strategy Guide: First Floor Boss edition», which can be bought at the NPC which I mentioned earlier for the price of 0 Col.

At first, the purpose of this meeting was to create a plan for a scouting battle, but the sudden appearance of this guide book had directed it to a totally different direction. And the one who interrupted the meeting to inform the participant about the existence of such a guide is no one else but Leon. With it, we could jump straight to the actual raid while skipping some dangerous scouting battle.

The pamphlet covered most of the information we need about the boss, including its name, weapon, damage output and Sword Skills. In addition, on the last page of the guide, Argo had also included information of the «Sentinels» surrounding the boss in great detail. Every time the boss lost one of its HP bar, four «Sentinels» more would spawned. The boss had 4 health bars, which means that there would be 12 «Sentinels» that need to be eliminated.

But then again, there was something that captured my attention…

"Argo had put herself in a hard situation again."

Hanairo slightly nodded in agreement before whispering in a small tone just enough for me to hear.

"You're right. Lots of people will begin to wonder whether Argo is a «Beta Tester» or not after reading this."

In the cover, a very clear warning line written in bright red font, which is perfectly legible for anyone without reading difficulties.

[This information is from the time of the SAO beta test. It is possible the current version may be different.]

Needless to say, just by putting this red warning line in the cover, Argo had placed herself in a very dangerous situation, risking being recognized as an original tester. As tension between the «Beta Testers» and the «New Players» showing no sign of stopping, there was no doubt that the danger of her being the foremost target of denunciation would increase.

"—Everyone, right now, let's be thankful for this information!"

Diavel's voice was filled with positivity as it resounded throughout the place of the meeting. What came after was buzzing sounds coming from the participants, who had all gotten themselves a guide book and returned to their seat.

"Leaving aside its source, thanks to this guide, we can skip two or three days of scouting battles. Indeed, I think this is incredibly helpful. Because, scouting battles have the possibility of incurring the most deaths."

Diavel stated my thought correctly. Dealing with a very sensitive matter involving the original testers, Diavel's choice of words was pretty wise, choosing to take a neutral standing ground instead of direct confrontation with the «Beta Testers». This is what made him such a great leader. Though taking it into consideration, Diavel's approach might triggered some suspicion toward him being a «Beta Tester», but with his current situation and the trust he earned from other players, that was not a major problem.

After a short pause, the blue-haired knight continued.

"…If this is true, the boss's numerical stats are not so bad. If SAO was a normal MMO, then even if everyone's average level was level three... no, level five, that would be enough to kill it, I think. So, if we polish our tactics correctly and bring a lot of POTs[1] to the fight, it's possible for us to defeat it without any deaths. No, sorry, not even that. There will be absolutely zero deaths. That, I promise you on my pride as a knight!"

His confident voice worked as a huge dose of morale boost. Almost immediately, loud clapping and cheering filled the surrounding air. Only then did I noticed, the stone wall behind where Diavel was standing oddly resembled The Rose-Red City of Petra. a historical and archaeological city in the southern Jordanian governorate of Ma'an that is famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system.

"—Then, it's a bit fast, but I am thinking of starting the actual conquest strategy meeting right now! In any case, if we don't make a raid party, we cannot split up our duties, right? Everyone, first make a party with your friends or the people near you!"

What came after the cheering from Diavel completely caught me off guards as I was unprepared for this type of situation. Like I had said earlier, meeting new people was not so much of a problem for me, but the time it takes for me to get along with stranger was the difficult case I need to solve. If I could not trust them right away, there would not be any synergy between us if we were to fight along side each other as a party. Which would be a major set back for us in the boss fight.

But it was not like I could do anything about it, if I want to take part in the boss fight. Without a second thought, I immediately turned to the boy sitting next to me.

"Hana-chan, let's form a party together."

And with a swift movement, I sent the red-haired boy a party invitation quest.

"Eh…? Ah… Un… I get it."

After a moment of hesitation, Hanairo pressed the OK button. A second HP bar appeared in the left side of my view, along with the owner's name written in alphabetic letters, which read [HANAIRO].

I index finger tapped on my chin as I tried to remember the number of players allowed in a single party. Which was six, if my memory served correctly. So what we need is four more members and we are good to go, hopefully I would be able to find someone I knew. Just when I was about to dragged Hanairo along with me to find more members, a familiar voice called out to me from behind.

"Shiro! Right?"

I stopped dead in my track out of surprise as I turned around to find Leon standing a few feet away from me, wearing a bright smile on his face. Standing besides him was two other players, one armed with a two-handed sword and light armor while the other equipped with a heavy armor and a huge mace. Leon wearing a smile on his face and got straight to the point.

"Would you like to form a party with us?"

It is really difficult to describe my feelings at that moment, but from what I remembered, I was overwhelmed with joy. I would not have to fight along side total strangers after all. Without hesitation, I interact with the color cursor of the three players standing before me, sending them an invitation. After they have pressed accept, three more health bars appeared on the left side of my view, along with three names written in alphabetic letters: [LEON], [CAIN] and [GIN].

Hanairo, who was standing besides me lowered his head slightly, probably confused by the sudden appearance of three other players whom he had never met before. The same could be said about me, I had already known who Leon was, but not the other two. So after a moment of wondering whether whose name belongs to whom as a habit, Leon's voice cut me off of my thoughts.

"Leave the introduction till later. We still need to find one more member."

"Right."

I immediately turned toward the center of the meeting and scanned through the entire fountain plaza. A few party of six had already been made by the others players at the meeting. There were currently 44 players at the plaza at that time, one party could consisted of 6 player, so if we were aiming toward balance, the best distribution would be 4 parties of 6 members and 4 parties of 5 members. Which means that we could do just fine with 5 people in the party. But it seemed that Leon would prefer a six-member party to a five-member one. Maybe he wanted our party to be the best as it could get, since, the more people the better, right?

My eyes darted around the fountain plaza which was currently filled with people, looking for a person who did not seemed to have to a party yet. It only took me a few seconds to finally spot a hooded player, armed with a single-handed sword sitting alone with his gaze fixed onto his feet. That person did not seemed like he had been invited to a party, nor did he intend to invite other to his own, either. Without wasting another second, I hastily approached the lone player.

"Hey… Would you like to form a party with me? We are currently short on one person. So if you don't mind…"

I skipped all sort of formal greetings and immediately cut to the chase. The player took a quick glance at me through that hood with brown, emotionless eyes before returning his gaze back to his feet. After a few moment of remaining motionless, the hooded player nodded slightly. I rolled my eyes before doing the same interaction with the green color cursor above the person's avatar as I did a few dozens of second earlier to Hanairo, sending an invitation to the person. The sword user pushed the blue button, accepting my invitation. Which result in another health bar to materialize on the left side of my view, along with alphabetical letters displayed beneath it.

[ZERO]

"Yoroshiku ne."

I flashed a smile toward the latest member of the party, but it did not seem that the sword user noticed it as he continued fixing his gaze onto the ground beneath. The only respond I got from the guy was a light nod and a small: "Same here."

The guy was not that friendly of a person, it seems. That explained why he had been left out. But maybe, just maybe, he was just shy and did not feel comfortable talking to other people. That could pretty much be the case. Either that, or this person named Zero was just cold and emotionless.

Leaving that topic to a side, our party had been completely formed with a full six members. That was not something worth celebrating but I could not help it but felt good about it. Synchronization between the members could be a problem, since most of us never fought with each other before, but that problem should not be difficult to come over. Looking at the other players, I could see that six others six-member party parties had been formed as well.

But something was not quite right. There were 44 people participating in the raid, and there were seven six-member parties. Six multiply by seven is 42, which means, two people had been left out with no party. Of course, the two of them could form a party together, but if we were to split up duties, I doubt that neither of them could be much of help. It was not that difficult to make out two persons sitting separately from any of the formed parties. So they did form a party together after all.

What came next was Diavel checking on each of the party to see if any changes should be made for the best possible attacking formation. As we were waiting for our turn, a quick introduction was made between our party members. Even though we should be able to know each other name already since they was displayed on the left side of our view, formal greetings was still something that every players adopted into this Virtual Reality. Of course, you would not be able to know a person's name if they did not tell you about it, unless you interact with that person one way or another, in our case was forming a party with each other. Gin, the player with a tanky built, offered me a handshake, something you did not see everyday, since Japanese rarely shakes hand when they first met another persoṇ (save for businessmen) ̣̣̣̣̣. But I accepted it anyway.

The introduction ended right before Diavel arrived at our group. After a short moment of consideration, he decided the task that was most suitable for us, taking the party member's stats and builds into account.

"You guys will be attacker group D. Since both your defensive and offensive stats are impressive, you along with Attacker group C, which is my group, will concentrate on attacking the boss. Sounds good?"

It was really surprising, but not less exciting hearing that we gonna take on the boss itself. To be honest, I was somewhat nervous, knowing the weight of the responsibility I was carrying on my shoulder at that moment. But, my anxiousness quickly vanished as I realized (or remembered) that I would not have to bear this burden alone.

"Just leave it to us."

Leon replied with a thumb up and a smile full of determination. It seemed that he was as excited as I was to fight the boss. However, I do not think that fighting the boss was what making him so excited and enthusiastic. He was just looking forward to the raid as a whole, no matter the tasks he was given. I am not really sure. For me, taking part in the raid alone was a great honor, being part of the group of people that gonna take a step toward freeing ten of thousands of people trapping in this death game. So I would not complain even if I was given a supporting role.

"I'm counting on you guys."

Diavel flashed a smile at us. He looked over each of the six member of our party before moving on to the next party. I did not know if was that just me, or did he stopped a little bit longer on Hanairo? Well, that was something I felt that I should not bother too much about, so I let it go.

In the end, seven specialized parties were form, each with their own tasks. Two heavy-armor Tank parties. Three high mobility and high damage Attacker parties. And last but not least, two long weapons Support parties.

The works were clearly assigned by the blue-haired knight Diavel. With the two Tank parties taking turns tanking up the boss's attacks, creating opportunities for the two Attackers party to deal damage to the boss, while the third one would take care of the sentinels/ The Support parties with their long-reached weapon would use the Delay skill to interrupt either the boss' or the sentinels' attacks when ever possible.

Now, there was no way that the number of people and the class they choose gonna perfectly go in Diavel's favor, as there was also that two-player party. I did not know what they were assigned with in the end, but I did not think they would be able to create much of an impact on the raid. And of course, there was Gin, the only tank player in our group, Attacker group D. I felt that Diavel would like to fit him into one of the tank parties but that would not be possible, so the knight decided to keep it that way. On a side note, the «Rat» was no where to be found. Which means that she had withdrew from taking part in the raid. But came to think of it, she had done her job and more than anyone else, she had contributed a lot to the raid with this «Strategy Guide Book». Moreover, by publishing it, she had risked being recognized as a «Beta Tester», joining the boss fight was not such a great Idea. So I could not blame her for not showing up.

The meeting end shortly after a short greeting between the leaders of each group. For obvious reason, I decided to pass the party leadership to Leon and let him do the talking. In any typical MMOs, the leadership of the party could be transfer to another person in the group, which made it more convenient for the player as they would not have to disband the party and create an entirely new one just to change the leader. And lucky for us, SAO was not an exception.

Before that, we had decided the rule on distribution of drops, which was 'Col will be automatically divided evenly among the 44 raid party members while each item will belong the the person who receives it.'. It was actually another great move by Diavel, since it would prevent any sort of fight over the drops between the people who received them and the people who wanted them.

The meeting finally ended at 5:30 PM. People left the fountain plaza with invigorating spirit. And I too, could not help the positive feelings about what had yet to come. As people started splitting into threes and fives, disappearing inside bars and restaurants, I said goodbye to my three new found friends, Leon, Cain, Gin before dragging Hanairo with me to the usual spot. Saori's food store. And the store owner greeted us with hospitality and cheerful smiles. That mysterious person whose name was Zero however, just disappeared without a word right after the meeting ended.

The taste of the food made by the hand of the cheerful store owner never failed to impress me, even though I had eaten her food a lot of time before. Watching us eating with a grin, Saori asked us about the meeting.

"So, how was the meeting today?"

I put the bowl of the spoon to my lips and fixed my gaze to the ceiling. After a minute of consideration, I replied.

"Right… It went out pretty well. We had taken a surprisingly huge step closer to clearing the first floor. The boss fight will be taken place soon."

"Is that so? How long is soon?"

"If everything goes in our favor, it should be tomorrow."

Saori's face suddenly brighten up and a smile spread across her face, but there was still doubt in her eyes as she brought her face close to mine, a little bit too close…

"Really?! Are you sure?!"

"Y..eah… That's what we have agreed in the meeting."

"That's great! I'm so glad!"

The brown haired restaurant owner pulled me in and hugged me tightly. Only letting go after almost a full minute. But her cheerful expression had been replaced with a look of concern.

"Just be careful okay? Clearing the game is important, but it doesn't mean that you should put yourself in too much danger. That's go for you too, Hana-chan."

I did not really get the point, since taking part in the raid alone was considered putting yourself in danger. That is a fact. When that boss' room's door is opened and the boss appear, it is no lie that we are taking the risk of losing our lives in the fight.

"Sure. I will be careful, so don't worry. Okay."

I flashed a smile toward the young woman with light brown hair, telling her not to worry too much. Even though it is the truth that I could possibly die in that boss fight, but the chances are relatively low. If we follow Diavel's plan without making any mistakes, there would be absolutely no casualties just like what the knight had stated. Or at least I hope so.

"Ah… That's right, if you succeed in defeating the boss, I will give you a little something as a reward."

The smile had reappeared on Saori's face, which once again made her full of energy.

"Really? What is that?"

"It's a secret."

The restaurant owner brought her index finger to her lips and winked at me. I couldn't help but giggled lightly at her childish reaction.

* * *

><p>"So. What are you going to do after this?"<p>

The red-haired male sitting opposite to me looked at me with a puzzled gaze at my sudden question.

"Etou… The fight is tomorrow so I think that I'm gonna get to bed early. Maybe checking on my gear before that…"

I nodded slightly, before finishing the last of my food.

"That's a great idea. I think that I should give my equipment a quick check, too… Maybe we should find an NPC blacksmith and ask him to enhance our stuffs."

"You think so huh…"

Hanairo's gaze wondered around the restaurant, seemed to be losing himself in deep thought. The boy was dragged back to reality by Saori's voice.

"Oh yeah. I've came across a quest which you might interest in. If I remember correctly, the quest reward you a pretty decent curved sword upon completion. I can show you the way to it, if you want to."

I turned toward Saori and immediately asked without delay.

"Are you serious?"

She replied with a nod. Since both Hanairo and I were curved sword users, and the quest reward items were some of the best gear that you can find in this game. So having one of those would help us a lot

"Then. Please, tell us more about it."

"Well…"

* * *

><p><strong>References<strong>

[1]: POTs: Game term, short for healing and various other potions.

* * *

><p><em>So. What do you guys think? Tell me in the review sections below. It helps me out a lot as a writer to be able to know that there are people out there who are interested in my writings and keeping track of my work. Hope you guys have a wonderful 2015. I'll see you guys in the next chapter.<em>

_Arigatou Gozaimashita. **Jaa mata ne!**_


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